Application of Gas for Mobility Control in Chemical EOR in Problematic Carbonate Reservoirs

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mayank Srivastava ◽  
Quoc Phuc Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Mobility Control ◽  
Carbonate Reservoirs ◽  
Chemical Eor

Low-IFT Foaming System for Enhanced Oil Recovery in Highly Heterogeneous/Fractured Oil-Wet Carbonate Reservoirs

SPE Journal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (06) ◽  
pp. 2243-2259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pengfei Dong ◽  
Maura Puerto ◽  
Guoqing Jian ◽  
Kun Ma ◽  
Khalid Mateen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Fractured Reservoirs ◽  
Surfactant Solution ◽  
Capillary Forces ◽  
Mobility Control ◽  
Carbonate Reservoirs ◽  
Residual Oil ◽  
High Permeability ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Foam Flooding

Summary Oil recovery in heterogeneous carbonate reservoirs is typically inefficient because of the presence of high-permeability fracture networks and unfavorable capillary forces within the oil-wet matrix. Foam, as a mobility-control agent, has been proposed to mitigate the effect of reservoir heterogeneity by diverting injected fluids from the high-permeability fractured zones into the low-permeability unswept rock matrix, hence improving the sweep efficiency. This paper describes the use of a low-interfacial-tension (low-IFT) foaming formulation to improve oil recovery in highly heterogeneous/fractured oil-wet carbonate reservoirs. This formulation provides both mobility control and oil/water IFT reduction to overcome the unfavorable capillary forces preventing invading fluids from entering an oil-filled matrix. Thus, as expected, the combination of mobility control and low-IFT significantly improves oil recovery compared with either foam or surfactant flooding. A three-component surfactant formulation was tailored using phase-behavior tests with seawater and crude oil from a targeted reservoir. The optimized formulation simultaneously can generate IFT of 10−2 mN/m and strong foam in porous media when oil is present. Foam flooding was investigated in a representative fractured core system, in which a well-defined fracture was created by splitting the core lengthwise and precisely controlling the fracture aperture by applying a specific confining pressure. The foam-flooding experiments reveal that, in an oil-wet fractured Edward Brown dolomite, our low-IFT foaming formulation recovers approximately 72% original oil in place (OOIP), whereas waterflooding recovers only less than 2% OOIP; moreover, the residual oil saturation in the matrix was lowered by more than 20% compared with a foaming formulation lacking a low-IFT property. Coreflood results also indicate that the low-IFT foam diverts primarily the aqueous surfactant solution into the matrix because of (1) mobility reduction caused by foam in the fracture, (2) significantly lower capillary entry pressure for surfactant solution compared with gas, and (3) increasing the water relative permeability in the matrix by decreasing the residual oil. The selective diversion effect of this low-IFT foaming system effectively recovers the trapped oil, which cannot be recovered with single surfactant or high-IFT foaming formulations applied to highly heterogeneous or fractured reservoirs.

EOR Techniques Tailored to Venezuelan Conventional and Unconventional Oils: Critical Review

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernancelys Rodriguez M.
Keyword(s):  
Oil Production ◽  
Mobility Control ◽  
Heavy Oils ◽  
The North ◽  
Viscous Oil ◽  
Fluid Systems ◽  
Producer Country ◽  
Chemical Eor ◽  
Gas Flooding ◽  
Compositional Gradients

Abstract Venezuela has been ranked as a potential oil producer country thanks to its huge reserves of conventional and unconventional oils. Conventional reservoirs with complex fluid systems, located in the North of Monagas state, where it is possible to observe thick fluid columns with significant compositional gradients (showing changes from gas condensate to non-mobile oil-Tar mat). In these types of reservoirs EOR methods such as miscible gas flooding have been successfully applied to compensate pressure decline and avoid asphaltene deposition issues. Production of unconventional oils, the largest highly-viscous oil reservoir of La Faja Petrolifera del Orinoco (La FPO), demands great challenges. Discovered in the 1930’s, the first rigorous evaluations of this reservoir started in the 1980s [1]; those huge deposits of highly viscous oils were considered technically and economically unattractive at that time. Due to production decline of conventional oil reservoirs, efforts are being done by the Venezuelan National Oil Company and collaborators to develop EOR projects to achieve increasing oil production in unconventional (heavy and extra-heavy) reservoirs, being the most promising options thermal and chemical EOR methods. Some authors agree that in the FPO, only 40–65% (depending on the site) of the oil-bearing formations is suitable for thermal EOR methods. Recent works have been showing the potential of chemical EOR for extra-heavy oils in La FPO [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9], mostly for mobility control and mobilization of residual oil. This work presents a literature review of the EOR projects in Venezuela for conventional and highly viscous oils, based on both lab and field experiences, and the perspectives for applications to increase Venezuelan oil production.

scholarly journals Wormlike Micellar Solution: Alternate of Polymeric Mobility Control Agent for Chemical EOR

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 1023-1029 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Kumar ◽  
Mariyamni Bt. Awang ◽  
Ghulam Abbas ◽  
Shuaib Ahmed Kalwar
Keyword(s):  
Micellar Solution ◽  
Control Agent ◽  
Mobility Control ◽  
Chemical Eor

Pilot Testing Issues of Chemical EOR in Large Fractured Carbonate Reservoirs

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mojtaba Kiani ◽  
Hossein Kazemi ◽  
Erdal Ozkan ◽  
Yu-Shu Wu
Keyword(s):  
Carbonate Reservoirs ◽  
Pilot Testing ◽  
Fractured Carbonate ◽  
Chemical Eor

Review of Chemical EOR Projects in Venezuela: From Light to Extra-Heavy Oil Reservoirs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernancelys Rodriguez M.
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Mobility Control ◽  
Oil Reservoirs ◽  
Oil Reserves ◽  
Viscous Oil ◽  
Lake Maracaibo ◽  
Heavy Oil Reservoirs ◽  
Producer Country ◽  
Chemical Eor ◽  
Water Treatments

Abstract Venezuela is widely recognized as an oil producer country of great potential thanks to its huge hydrocarbon resources located in Eastern Venezuela and Maracaibo basins, comprising the largest oil reserves in the world, with around 302 billion barrels according to recent OPEC and EIA estimates [1]. Despite those immense hydrocarbon resources, oil production in Venezuela is a challenge in mature and waterflooded reservoirs, as well as in thin highly viscous oil reservoirs where thermal IOR/EOR methods are not technically and/or economically feasible. This is the case of many oil fields in Lake Maracaibo and in La Faja Petrolifera Del Orinoco (La FPO), where the application of Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery (CEOR) methods is being envisaged with a view to increasing oil recovery factors. The objective of this article is to review most of the Venezuelan CEOR projects reported in the literature to identify the main insights/status of each reported project and its potentiality of application to increase oil recovery. A detailed description of each project and its main conclusions is given. According to this literature review, CEOR project evaluations for Venezuelan reservoirs have been performed mostly at laboratory and numerical simulation scales, including several pilot test designs. Only 2 executed pilot tests have been reported (ASP flooding at VLA-6/9/21 Field in Lake Maracaibo and polymer flooding at Petrocedeño Field in La FPO). Despite the encouraging results in terms of oil recovery at laboratory scale, the greatest challenges related to the application of CEOR methods in Venezuelan reservoirs are linked to technical and economic aspects (e.g. high adsorption/retention of chemicals, mobility control, complex emulsions, separation of phases, water treatments, costs of investment, oil prices, etc.).

AASP flooding as a Substitute of ASP Flooding for Chemical EOR in Carbonate Reservoirs

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. A. Kalwar ◽  
K. A. Elraies ◽  
G. Abbas ◽  
S. Kumar ◽  
K. Farouque
Keyword(s):  
Carbonate Reservoirs ◽  
Asp Flooding ◽  
Chemical Eor

Effect of Oil Presence on CO2Foam Based Mobility Control in High Temperature High Salinity Carbonate Reservoirs

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 2983-2992 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Sonny Mathew ◽  
Abdul Ravoof Shaik ◽  
Ali Al Sumaiti ◽  
Waleed AlAmeri
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
High Salinity ◽  
Mobility Control ◽  
Carbonate Reservoirs
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